Poisoned Rationality
by Tomoyo Kinomoto
Summary: When you're raised by Rockets, who's to say what might happen?


Hello!** I do not own Pokémon! **Glad that's done with! I am starting a Pokémon fanfic! Yes!!! I've been longing to do this ever since I first found out about fanfiction. Why it took me so long, I have no idea. WARNING!!!! I'm not going to be able to update very often since I want to perfect each chapter, so I'm just letting you know in advance. Thank you for sticking with me!!! Please leave a review, I love reading them!!! (That's a lot of exclamation marks. ((sweatdrops)) Yep.)

* * *

_A small village in the Hoenn region:_

A girl slept with her forehead against the window in her room, her dark, walnut-colored hair surrounding her in small waves. A pikachu-shaped alarm clock beeped. The girl's arm reached out and fell heavily, hitting the snooze button on the top of the clock. She raised her head and stared at the face of the clock, trying to remember why she had set the alarm to ring so early. Then she gave a radiant smile as she remembered what was going to happen later that day. Her green eyes sparked with excitement as she slid off of the window seat she had fallen asleep on and onto the wood floor. Carefully, the girl crawled across the bedroom floor to her bureau and opened the bottom drawer. She pulled out some clothes and a bag. The bag was a pale blue with a light purple flap and straps. She was extra careful in taking out the bag because it already had some of her special items in it and she did not want them to clank together. The girl got dressed, wearing a sky blue t-shirt over a violet long-sleeved shirt with jeans. She had the legs of the jeans rolled up since the weather was supposed to be warm later on. The rest of the clothes she carefully placed into her bag, piling them on top of the objects already in there that were hard to see in the early morning light. Crawling across the floor while dragging her bag behind her, the girl accidentally pulled her legs over a rough spot in the wood where the boards were splitting and pushing loads of splinters up. Crying out in pain, the girl dropped the bag in favor of grabbing her leg. The bag fell with a dull _thunk!_ There was the sound of hurried footsteps on floorboards, then the bedroom door swung open.

"Caroline, what do you think you're doing up so early in the morning?" It was the girl's mother, her brown hair messy from just getting out of bed. Caroline felt awful. All she wanted to do was to help her parents, but she had only made more work for them. Her eyes heated up and she felt lots of itchy pinpricks behind her eyes.

Tears rolled slowly down her cheeks as she said plaintively, "Ma, it h-hurts." Caroline's mother squatted next to her daughter and gave her a hug.

"Don't worry, it's okay. I'm here. Why were you making such a racket this early, anyway?"

Caroline sniffed, then said, "I w-wanted to b-be the first one r-ready, and t-then I c-could surp-prise you a-and Pa."

"Well, that's really sweet of you, but you shouldn't be getting up at all hours! How do you ever expect to get anything done if you don't have enough sleep? Here, how's this," she said as Caroline gave another sniff, "I'll go get breakfast ready for you and you wait for your Pa to get over here." She gave Caroline one last gentle squeeze then stood up.

Right before she left, Caroline called, "M-ma? I've got m-most of my bag packed. C-can you help me f-finish?" Her mother smiled.

"Sure, just hand me your bag and I'll get everything else you'll need." Caroline handed her mother her bag, then sat on the floor still slightly crying silently until her father came in.

"Hey, are you alright?" asked her father. He was a large man; broad and muscular. His dark eyes matched his hair almost exactly. When Caroline was younger, she used to try and compare the two colors and see which one was lighter. Usually his eyes were filled with laughter, but now they held only concern.

"I-I think so," said Caroline.

"Then there's no need for you to be crying," her father said soothingly as he pulled a few stray splinters from Caroline's leg. "And besides," he continued, picking up Caroline bridal-style, "You shouldn't be crying on your big day!" Caroline giggled and relaxed in her father's arms, all of her troubles skittering away like rain clouds after the sun comes out. She always felt safe and sure of herself whenever he was around. "Let's go downstairs, I thought heard that your ma's making breakfast!" Caroline's father carried her down into the kitchen and placed her in a chair in front of a steaming pile of pancakes.

"Eat up," her mother called over her shoulder, "You don't want to be late for your big day!"

"Yes, Ma!" Caroline exclaimed, already wolfing down her pancakes.

"Whoa, there!" laughed her father, putting a hand on her shoulder to slow her down, "Don't eat too quickly or you'll be sick!" Caroline just grinned up at her father and went back to her pancakes; just a _tiny_ bit slower this time. "'Morning," Caroline's father said, walking over to Caroline's mother and giving her a kiss.

"'Morning, sweetie," Caroline's mother replied, smiling then turning back to the dishes in the sink. "There's a pile of pancakes for you, too. It's over there on the counter."

"There isn't anyone who can make pancakes better then you can, Maria." The second Caroline's father sat down at the table, Caroline looked up at him, her plate clean.

"Pa, could you please help me?" she asked him.

"And just when I sat down, too," he almost shouted, making a big show of pretending to be annoyed with her. "Sure thing, I'll be there in a jiffy," he said, tweaking Caroline's nose, "Just have to get your bag first." As he stood up and left the kitchen, Caroline's mother came and took Caroline's plate from her and placed it in the sink.

"Thanks, Ma. Ma? You'll be there, won't you?" Caroline asked pleadingly.

"Of course I will! I wouldn't miss it for the world," replied her mother.

"Neither would I," stated her father, coming into the room carrying Caroline's bag over his shoulder. "Alright, you ready?"

"Yeah!" laughed Caroline as her father picked her up again and headed towards the living room.

"Be careful! It would do us no good if you got lost before you even went outside," Caroline's mother called after her husband.

"I'm not going to get lost!" he called back.

"That's what you said when we went to Saffron, Mr. Know-It-All!" retorted Caroline's mother with a sly grin on her face. She could hear him laugh even after he walked outside with their only child.

* * *

"So, you remember your old wheelchair? The one you hated and said was all broken down and unreliable?" Caroline nodded. "Well," Caroline's father said proudly, "Your ma and I couldn't have you going out on your Pokémon adventure in that, so we got you a little something else!" Caroline looked out from her father's arms and saw her friend Tyra standing next to a wheelchair. However, it was not any old wheelchair. It could be controlled electronically or manually and had an area in the back where all of her camping gear was already stowed.

"Surprise!" shouted Tyra, waving her arms in the air above her head. "I hope you like it! Your mum and pop helped me get this for you!" Caroline grinned at her energetic friend. Her bright orange hair had strips of light brown in it and was in two pigtails. Tyra was wearing a light brown t-shirt with a bright green vest with deep pockets over it. She also had tan cargo pants and sneakers to complete the outfit.

"Wrong!" said Caroline's father, "_You_ helped _Maria and me_ get it for her!" As the two bickered good-naturedly, Caroline gazed at the wheelchair. She gave a slight shriek of joy and surprise when she was jerked around as her father reached over and pulled one of her friend's pigtails. Suddenly, she was placed gently inside of the wheelchair. "There is a control here that allows you to go over different objects or up rocky terrain."

"It's waterproof, too!" Tyra exclaimed, jumping up and down in the shape of a star. Caroline's father and Caroline stared at her with identical expressions of disbelief and astonishment on their faces.

"I'm glad you're not that hyper all the time!" he said. Everyone laughed.

"Come on, Cara! Do you want to be the last one to get a Pokémon?" asked Tyra.

"No!" exclaimed Caroline, "I'll be there in just a minute, Tyra." Tyra grinned and hopped in place from one foot to the next. "Love you, Pa," Caroline said, reaching up and giving her father a hug.

"I love you, too," he replied, standing up, "I'll be there before you leave with that nut case,"

"Hey!" interjected Tyra, putting on a green and brown baseball cap that matched her outfit. Caroline grinned.

"And so will your ma," continued her father as if nothing had happened. "I just want to let you know that we're proud of you and will support you no matter what."

"Thanks, Pa," whispered Caroline.

"Woo! Let's get this show on the road! Bye Mr. Goldman! Thank you for letting me travel with Cara!" shouted Tyra, waving over her shoulder at Caroline's father and picking up her bag at the same time. "How's that wheelchair? Does it work?"

"Works like a charm!" laughed Caroline. "Race you to the Center!"

"You're on!" said Tyra, "On your mark…get set…GO!!!" The two girls raced to the Pokémon Center as fast as they could, laughing they hurtled down the hill.

"Tie!" they shouted simultaneously as they both slammed their hands on the wooden wall of the Poké Center. Nurse Joy stuck her head out of the door and saw the two girls bent double from laughter.

"If you're here for your first Pokémon, you're a little early," said Nurse Joy, smiling slightly. She stepped fully outside and wiped her hands on her apron. Her hands left streaks of mud and loose dirt across the folds of the fabric. There was also some dirt and pieces of grass on her shoes.

"Why?" asked Tyra, cocking her head slightly to the side, "What time is it?"

Caroline looked down at her watch and gulped, just as Nurse Joy said, "A quarter to seven." Tyra whistled in amazement.

"Well, hold our spots for us, please! C'mon Cara, let's go back to your house! Umm, there's something I forgot to tell your pop." Caroline looked at Tyra as she laughed nervously and scratched the back of her head in embarrassment.

"What?"

"I'll tell you when we get there."

Shrugging, Caroline said, "Okay!" She grinned mischievously at Tyra. "Bet you I can get to the top first!"

"No way!" Before you could say "Pokémon", the two girls were already gone, racing each other again. They did not stop even when they reached Caroline's house. Instead, they chose to barge into the yard, and pulled up short at the front door. Tyra was a little too close to the door, and had to pinwheel when Caroline opened it.

"Pa-a! We're ba-ack!"

"Missed me already?" Caroline's father stuck his head out the front door and grinned, wiping his hands dry on a towel. "I'll be out back in a minute."

"Wait! Ah – ! Oh. Nope, he's gone. Dang." Caroline looked on amused as her friend tried and failed to get her father's attention after he had already gone back inside the house. Tyra sighed. "Well, nothing left to it, I guess. Let's go on back before your pop gets there."

"Sure, but why didn't you want Pa to go out back? He was there this morning."

"I know, but he must've not been paying much attention to anything but you." Caroline made a face at that. "He's not going to be happy when he sees what's out there!" Puzzled, she gave Tyra a confused look. As they rounded the corner, they saw Caroline's father standing in the middle of the backyard, running a hand through his hair. Tyra flinched. "Told ya!"

The backyard was littered with debris. Some of the trees had rumpled leaves and a few were even missing a low-hanging branch or two. There were charred sticks in the center of the yard and the grass was covered in loose dirt. There were lines of green in the dirt showing where people had walked earlier that morning. Leaning against the side of the house was an enormous trashcan bag. It was deflated since it was not filled with much, and it sat there with the top left wide open. Caroline's father turned. "So by the obvious mess here, I can assume…what?"

"Umm… that I went camping here because Mum kicked me out?" she said in a rush. Caroline and her father blinked.

"Say that one more time, _slowly_."

"We-ell, I wanted to get used to camping before Cara and I started our adventure and Pop was all for it, but Mum said she wouldn't have me sleeping on _her_ lawn, keeping _her _up at all hours, making a huge mess out of _her _lawn, and that the whole point of me going on my Pokémon adventure was so that I didn't have to bother _her _about camping, and she didn't know why couldn't I go sleep at _somebody else's_ house since I wanted to wake up _so early_ to be ready, and since there was no way _she _was going to get up that early in the morning, she told me that I could sleep just as well at your house, so I did!" Tyra took a deep breath and scuffed her foot in the grass, leaving behind a line of green. "I'm sorry for not asking." Caroline's father was silent for a moment, then started to laugh. Sheepishly, Tyra looked up at him, then began to grin too, all feelings of guilt and shame gone.

"And here I was thinking it was a stray Zigzagoon that was making all the noise last night! You could have at least called to warn us, you know!"

"But you found out, anyway!" Caroline gave a tiny sigh of relief as she too started laughing. She was afraid that her friend had made her father angry, just like that one time, years ago. Her father could get really scary when he was angry, but luckily he was slow to anger.

"You know what Tyra? It's too unnatural when you are being solemn. Promise me it will never happen again!"

"Yes ma'am! But only if _you_ promise never to give me a reason to!" Caroline was sent into another fit of giggles as Tyra saluted her.

"Alright! I promise."

"Deal!" Tyra and Caroline clasped hands to seal their promises. Unfortunately, they were promises neither could keep, although none of them knew it at the time.

After a couple more minutes of just talking, the trio started to clean up the backyard. Once all of the dirt was swept onto the non-grassy part of the yard under some of the trees and the sticks were put in the trashcan bag, Caroline's father reached over and plucked Tyra's hat off her head.

"Hey!" objected Tyra. She lunched for her hat, but Caroline's father lifted it out of reach. "That's not fair! You have longer arms!" Laughing, Tyra jumped. Her fingertips fell short of their mark, just managing to brush the brim of her hat. Realizing she could not jump that high, Tyra started to pull on Caroline's father's arms to try and bring her hat back within her reach. This would have worked except that Caroline's father was a lot bigger and stronger then she was, so it was nearly impossible for Tyra to get his arm to budge more than an inch. Getting an idea, Tyra placed both of her hands on the arm that was holding her hat and jumped, causing her body weight to fall squarely on Mr. Goldman's arm, which dropped about a foot. Unfortunately, she could not grab her hat seeing as both of her hands were now pinned under her stomach. It sat a mere foot away, taunting her. Twisting and kicking, Tyra tried to wiggle her hands out from underneath herself without falling from her precarious position.

Caroline's father laughed and quickly transferred Tyra's hat to his other hand. "Caroline, catch!" He threw the hat to Caroline. Since he threw with his left hand, his aim was a little off. Caroline wheeled beneath the hat and caught it in midair. Tyra struggled to get off of Caroline's father's arm, but was stuck with her upper body hanging on one side of his arm and her legs hanging on the other side. In short, she looked a bit like a piece of laundry hung up to dry. "Do you need a hand?" asked Mr. Goldman, his eyes twinkling with mirth.

"No! I can to this!" exclaimed Tyra, determined. She rocked from side to side, then rolled over and fell off the end of his arm. Landing on her feet, Tyra raced over to Caroline, but she moved away, grinning.

"C'mon! I'm your best friend! You wouldn't – " She took a swipe at her hat and Caroline sped up. Tyra stopped and stood, hands on hips. "Hey! That's not fair! Electronics can go faster then people!" She stuck out her tongue.

Laughing, Caroline tossed the hat back to her father over Tyra, who jumped to intercept it, but missed. "Right back at you!" Unfortunately for Tyra, when she jumped, she had to lean backwards to try and grab her hat. This caused her to land off balance and promptly fall over onto her bottom.

"Hmph!" said Tyra, crossing her arms and pretending to be upset, "If that's the case, then I guess I can't be your best friend any… HEY!" Tyra scrambled to her feet and dashed towards Mr. Goldman while he laughed and lunged for the trash bag. "NO! Please! Don't put it in the trash bag! Pleaseohpleaseohplease!" She and Caroline's father grappled for the hat, neither side gaining the upper hand. Caroline decided to take matters into her own hands. Tyra charged at Mr. Goldman, but he stuck out a palm and placed it on her forehead while pushing her back, so that no matter how fast she ran, she never got anywhere. As he was holding her back, Caroline's father unconsciously held the hat out behind him. Quietly, Caroline sped past the bickering pair while snatching Tyra's hat from them. For a moment, the pair kept on fighting, then seemed to realize that something was slightly off. They looked down at their empty hands, then at Caroline. Caroline just smiled and waved, then zoomed around the side of the house.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" both her father and Tyra called out. Tyra sprinted ahead of Caroline's father, but he picked her up and carried her over to the trash bag.

"No!" shrieked Tyra. "Put me down! No! No! Not in there! Nooooo!" but it was to no avail. Caroline's father opened the top of the trash bag and stuck Tyra rear-first into it. Flailing, she tried desperately to get out on her own. Within a few seconds, it soon became clear that although Tyra was not actually touching any of the garbage, she was completely and totally stuck. Tyra pouted while Mr. Goldman laughed. As he started to walk away, Tyra grabbed hold of the back of his pants' legs, causing him to pull her part way out of the trash bag. Unsteady and still holding on to the back of his pants, Tyra fell out of the trash bag and onto the back of Caroline's father's knees in a tackle, causing them both to topple over.

Suddenly they heard someone shout, "I got it!" Scrambling to their feet, Tyra and Caroline's father raced around to the front of the house, where they found Caroline chasing her mother, who had the hat clutched tightly in her hand. Tyra joined in the chase while Caroline's father leaned against the side of the house and looked on, smiling. Caroline and Tyra shared a look, grinned, and nodded. Caroline laughed out of pure mischief and happiness. Tyra ran to one side of Caroline's mother and Caroline to the other. They chased her playfully around in circles, both trying to get the hat. Laughing, Caroline's mother sprinted away, then clambered up a tree in the middle of the yard. The tree was not that large with the lowest branches about four feet off the ground. Caroline's mother sat in the crook of some of the lower branches with her feet dangling right above the two girls' heads. Tyra grabbed on to one of the branches and pushed off of the trunk with her feet, causing her to hang upside-down from the underside of the branch. Above her, the hat nearly slipped from Caroline's mother's hands as she tried to climb higher to put some distance between herself and Tyra. Giving a little shriek of laughter, she called, "George, help me!"

Chuckling, Mr. Goldman pushed himself off the side of the house and loped over to the tree. "Rawr! I'm a big, bad Ursaring and I'm coming to get you!" he shouted, charging at Tyra and Caroline. Screaming, Tyra dropped from the tree and ran one way while Caroline, also screaming, ran in the opposite direction. Roaring, Caroline's father ran after Tyra, who started laughing and ran around the yard in a vein attempt to outrun him. As Tyra ran past Caroline, he switched victims, and went after Caroline instead. She screamed again and burst out laughing as she was chased around and around and around. She looked behind her and shrieked when she saw how close her father had gotten. "I'm going to get you!" he teased playfully. Shaking her head, Caroline laughed, but her father soon caught up to her and lifted her up and out of the wheelchair, carrying her bridal-style.

Suddenly, there came a shout of, "ATTACK!" Both Tyra and Caroline's mother were sitting in the tree now. They each had a pile of nuts in their laps. The nuts were rather soft and small, so they were safe to throw. Grinning with her hat on crooked, Tyra pulled back her arm and let the first nut fly. It soared far above Caroline's father's head, but the next one from Caroline's mother hit its mark.

"Hey!" he laughed, "Maria, you traitor, you gave her back her hat!"

"Well, she promised me such a good deal," Caroline's mother replied grinning, letting loose another volley of nuts, aided by Tyra.

"Retreat!" yelled Caroline's father, racing with a giggling Caroline in his arms for cover behind a bush.

"Get back here, you cowards!" Tyra yelled in her best pirate voice.

* * *

Too soon it was deemed time to go. With everyone bright eyed and rosy cheeked, Caroline's mother kissed the two girls on the cheek and sent them on their way with an extra snack each and her reassurance to be one of the first ones to see their new Pokémon.

As the two girls waved good-bye, Tyra asked, "How much time do we have left?"

"Not much! We're going to have to run; it's nearly eight - thirty already!" Caroline yelped. Dashing down the hill, the two girls arrived once more at the Pokémon Center too winded for speech. Tyra and Caroline beat on the door until Nurse Joy arrived. She smiled down at the two panting and giggling girls in front of her.

"We're back again!!"

"Did we miss the new Pokémon?"

"You may come in now! And don't worry, you're still the first ones here."

"Yes!" Tyra and Caroline high – fived each other, then followed Nurse Joy into the Center, still giggling a bit. Once inside, they saw a skinny man with black hair and glasses in a white lab coat standing next to a counter that held three pokéballs. Caroline was practically beaming with anticipation while Tyra found it hard to stay in one spot she was so excited.

"I have traveled here today," began the man, "to distribute Pokémon to new trainers. Here I have the three starter Pokémon that you may choose from. Each Pokémon is different between types, and between individuals." The man's voice was a sort of squawk that made it hard for Caroline to understand him. She glanced at the door as she saw a flicker of movement from the corner of her eye. It was Nurse Joy. Nurse Joy had stepped silently into the room and stood by the wall, her smile gone. Caroline dismissed it as unimportant and looked back at the man as he said, "Now, you may each choose one Pokémon to be your - " An alarm cut the man off in the middle of his sentence.

A voice over a megaphone shouted, "Everybody come outside this instant. I want everyone to go stand in front of the Pokémon Center. There is no excuse for not being able to come." Tyra's eyes narrowed slightly as Nurse Joy herded them outside the Pokémon Center without a word. It all seemed too prearranged. The alarm was still blaring as people arrived at the Center, confused and scared. Tyra reached out a hand and Caroline gripped it. The two girls squeezed their hands tightly together, silently agreeing that no matter what happened next, they would always stick together and help each other out. A jeep rode up and parked in front of the Center's doors. A man in a black suit with a red R on the front, wearing a black cap and black boots got out of the jeep and picked up his megaphone. Instantly the alarms were silent. Caroline assumed that someone had pressed a button to make all the alarms turn off. He beckoned to the jeep and three men came out wearing the same uniform as the first man. They immediately spread out and started looking into all of the houses. It did not take them long to come back; the village was very, very small.

One man went over to the man with the megaphone and said, "There is no one left inside of the houses, sir!"

"Are you sure about that?" asked the man with the megaphone. The second man nodded. "Good." The megaphone gave a screech as it was turned on again. "I want you all to get into two lines. The front line has to have the people between the ages of ten and twenty. Everyone else make a line in back of them, closer to the Pokémon Center wall. Let's move it!" There was an instant shuffle to make the two lines. Still holding hands, Caroline and Tyra went into the first line, standing side-by-side at one of the ends. No one said a word, even when they bumped into each other. It seemed as if everyone was too scared to say anything. "Front row, take five steps forward. Now if you are in the front row and I tap you, then you step back into the second row. Clear?" Everyone nodded. With a twisted grin filled with malice, the man walked to one end of the front row and started to inspect the people standing there, occasionally asking questions. Caroline mentally breathed a small sigh of relief; the man had started at the other end of the line. Tyra watched as most of the people the man looked over got sent back to the second line and wondered if that was good or bad. Suddenly, Caroline caught sight of her parents also holding hands in the second line. She was sure that everything would be better if only she could be with her parents! The man slowly moved closer to the girls. Time passed with each second feeling like an eternity. He reached Caroline first and frowned. Turning suddenly, the man walked about three yards away then pulled out a gun and pointed it at Caroline. Both Caroline and Tyra stiffened with fear. "You there, in the wheelchair! Walk to me, now!" Caroline started shaking out of fear. "Now! Do it or I'll shoot!"

"No!" It was Caroline's mother. "She can't walk! Don't make her do this, please!" The man pointed the gun at Caroline's mother this time, his face blank. Caroline's father put a restraining arm around her, his eyes full of fear. The man smiled and turned so the gun was pointing back at Caroline.

"I'm not going to wait forever. Move." Tyra gave Caroline's hand an extra squeeze. Drawing a shaky breath, Caroline let go of Tyra's hand and put both her hands on the side of the wheelchair. Caroline's mother gave a scream of sorrow that quickly turned into sobbing. Caroline pushed herself into a standing position with her eyes tightly shut, trying not to think of her parents right behind her, or the pain that lanced up her legs. Slowly, she opened her eyes and took a wobbling step. She took a deep breath and took another step, and another. When Caroline had taken no more then five steps, she felt an enormous pain shoot through her legs. She gave a gasp and stopped, swaying on the spot. The gun clicked, getting ready to fire. More hesitant this time, Caroline stepped forward. After a few more steps, Caroline's legs collapsed of their own accord so that she hit the ground on her hands and knees. Breathing heavily, Caroline staggered upright and took one more step before falling onto her side. She winced as her legs throbbed painfully and she had to fight to breathe. Squeezing her eyes shut, she forgot everything except the pain in her legs – even the gun that was pointed at her. It felt like someone had set her legs on fire. Biting back a scream that was brought on by her agony, Caroline noticed that she could not feel the grass as well as she should and that she could not hear the people around her properly. There was a buzzing going on in her head and spots were flickering across her vision. Suddenly, she heard two loud explosions, and everything just melted away as she flew through the sky.

* * *

The gun fired twice. Caroline's body was lifted up into the air and slammed back down to the earth again some feet away. Her mother was screaming. Over and over without showing any sign of stopping, she cried her sorrow to the heavens. She was prevented from running to her daughter by two of the uniformed men. They grabbed her by the arms and pulled her away from the rest of the group as if she was little more then a rag doll. "Maria!" called Mr. Goldman. The gun was turned towards his head and he fell silent, watching the barrel as he would a wild and dangerous beast.

As she was leaving, the man who committed the murder called after her, "You should be thanking me for getting rid of her! She was weak! In nature's original plan, she would not have lived, anyway! You should be happy," he spoke to the village now, "that I have gotten rid of a person who could spoil the generations to come, making them useless and feeble, like she was!" The man moved on to Tyra to inspect her next, acting as if nothing had happened, save for a slightly frenzied look in his eyes. Tyra kept on staring straight ahead, her eyes wide. She had gone into a sort of lock-down. Her brain would not process what was happening. It was as if she had been turned into a robot. "Have you already received your first Pokémon?" When Tyra did not respond right away, he began to get mad. "Answer me, dammit!" Slowly, her eyes still wide and unseeing, Tyra shook her head. The man bared his teeth with a grin of satisfaction. "Good." Bending down, the man scooped up the megaphone and turned it on with a screech. "All of you who are still in the front line, stand in front of the truck shoulder to shoulder. Now!" he barked. Tyra shuffled forward and turned so that her back was pressed against the cold, metal side of the truck. The man with the megaphone kept his gun out, and went down the line of people once more, passing Tyra without saying anything. A few people were sent back to the second line, relief evident on their faces. The four uniformed men passed before the line once more, before standing shoulder to shoulder in front of them. "Alright! I want all of you standing in front of me to get inside the truck! Anyone who refuses will be shot!"

Unnoticed, a boy was watching the scene in front of him from the back of the crowd during this little speech about survival of the fittest. However, he was not cowering in fright like everyone else was, but rather he was glaring with hatred at the man holding the megaphone. Slowly, he took a step back. And another. As the man continued talking, the boy carefully detached himself from the rest of the group. When the man yelled at Tyra, the boy's eyes blazed in fury. Still moving slowly so as not to draw attention to himself, the boy reached a hand to the back of his belt. The moment the man was facing the group in front of the truck, the boy reached into one of his back pockets and drew out a large rock. He waited for the right moment before he could act. If he was rash and did not plan carefully, then all his work would be for nothing. The people standing in front of the truck clambered inside. When he saw Tyra, the last person in line, grab the handles on either side of the truck's frame to pull herself up, he carefully took aim. "This one's for Cara!" he screamed, chucking the rock as hard as he could at the head of the man with the megaphone. Quick as a flash, the man turned, loaded his gun, and fired at him. The boy let out a cry of pain and dismay as he watched his rock soar harmlessly past the man's left ear. As the boy fell, two of his friends ran over to catch him so that he did not hit the ground. Slumped between his friends' arms, the boy grimaced and gripped his right arm above the wound to try and stop the bleeding.

"Filth!" spat the man with the megaphone, "You should be thankful that I'm in too much of a hurry to kill you now. Although," he drawled as the boy glared at him with unmasked hatred and fury, "I could just leave you here for a while before killing you. You know, to let you suffer for a while longer." The man's face grew shadowed and his words became as hard and as cold as ice. "But mark my words. I will find you again and kill you for sure next time." Turning, the man hopped into the passenger seat of the truck and hollered out of the megaphone as it drove away, "There will be soldiers guarding your village. No one is allowed to enter or leave this village at any time for any reason. There will be no communication with anyone outside this village! If you disobey any of those orders, you will be killed without hesitation!" The villagers stared in a shocked silence at the receding truck. Even after the dust from the road settled and the truck was gone from view, the crowd continued to silently stare, unable to say or do anything.

The boy who threw the rock let out a moan. Slowly, as if waking from a bad dream, some of the people went to take care of the boy. Some other people went to get Caroline and the rest wandered aimlessly back into their homes. No one paid any attention to Nurse Joy or the man in the lab coat as they went back inside the Pokémon Center, smirks on both of their faces. Life had changed on that one day, and now life there would never be the same again.

* * *

YES!!!! ((punches air)) Twelve pages! Aaah! I'm so happy! This story is seriously my baby. I might not update very often, but that's just because I'm perfecting the next chapter. Whoever can tell me how I created the name Tyra will win … whatever we talk it out to be! Consider it the gift of your dreams. Yes, I actually thought that I created the name Tyra… No, I am not crazy. I know you're giving me that look! ((glare)) Meanie! 


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